Rising Darkness
by Soul Reaver
Summary: A Titan AEStar WarsKingdom Hearts crossover fic. The Heartless have invaded the Titan AE universe. Can Akima and a former Imperial soldier stop Maleficent's evil designs...


All Aboard  
  
Disclaimer: Titan AE, Star Wars, and Kingdom Hearts are not my property. However, Lance Corporal Halb Parmas and the Imperial SOG (Special Operations Group) are my creation. This takes place before Cale and Akima meet.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The Rebels hiding in their jungle encampments on the planet of Barakesh were utterly confident that they could assail the Imperial garrison with impunity. They attacked, melting into the jungles and a sympathetic population. Because of this, the Empire formed a specialized group to deal with the Rebels. Twenty-two members of that unit were concealed in ambush positions astride the Rebel patrol's route.  
  
As the Rebels moved through the brush, after having raided an Imperial ammunition depot they were unaware that the Imperials were prepared to strike back.  
  
"In position." Whispered a hidden Imperial soldier, clad in camouflaged fatigues.  
  
"Ready." Said a second. These soldiers carried heavily modified blaster rifles specifically designed for snipers. Their weapons were longer than those of their mates, armed with the short barreled blaster carbines, but a good deal more accurate at long range.  
  
Two crosshairs zeroed on the heads and hearts of two Rebel soldiers at the head of the column. Both men were trained to be calm, cool, and collected in all situations. They calmly steadied their aim, slowly squeezing the triggers of their weapons and felt the recoil as the energy was discharged.  
  
Two Rebels fell, dead and the ambush was triggered. Mines hidden along their probable escape routes funneled the Rebels into the waiting fire of more hidden Imperial soldiers. The Rebels fought back, but within seconds it was all over and the enemy patrol of forty men, women, and aliens were either killed or captured within minutes.  
  
"This is Red Witch to Falcon Lead, ready for extraction." Came the lieutenant's gravelly voice.  
  
"This Falcon Lead, acknowledged."  
  
With four prisoners in tow, the Imperials boarded the Gamma class assault shuttle and flew back towards their base. They did not anticipate the assault that they were about to face, not from the Rebels but from a threat far more sinister.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
As the Imperial shuttle streaked through the night at maximum speed observers would see it suddenly start juking wildly, as if whatever intelligence was at the controls had suffered a seizure and suddenly died.  
  
That assessment was accurate, the Imperial pilot saw the small, black creature a fraction of a second before its antennae twitched and it leapt upon his chest. It reached a clawed hand into his chest and extracted his heart. Instead of dying, the pilot's body shrank and his skin turned black. His eyes began to glow and antennae appeared on his head.  
  
With no intelligence at the controls the shuttle plowed into the jungle below, coming to rest a few meters away from the bole of a very large tree.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Akima stepped cautiously out of the escape pod. All she remembered was Korso ordering everyone on the Valkyrie to get into one of the escape pods. Then there were those strange creatures. There were dozens of them on the ship. They were little, and black, with antennae and glowing eyes.  
  
Stith and Gune had gotten into their pod, she had made sure of it. Korso and Preed, she wasn't sure if they survived or not. But even if they didn't the escape pods should have been dropped fairly close together with a simultaneous release. She grabbed what rations and water she could.  
  
The jungle was dark, oppressive, and frightening, in spite of the blaster pistol she carried in her hands she felt fear. Fear of not finding the others, fear of being trapped on this world alone, fear of those strange creatures that attacked the Valkyrie. Little did Akima know that the Heartless prey upon fear.  
  
Akima smelled the odor of smoke and found herself at the edge of a furrow of upturned earth. A ship had recently met her end in this jungle that was obvious. Akima didn't know why, but her instincts told her to follow it.  
  
Following the parched jungle lead her to the edge of a clearing to the unmistakable sight of a wrecked ship. It was a sad sight to see a wrecked ship, to imagine the loss of life, the waste of so much metal, energy, and most importantly human blood. She lay on her side, her prow buried in the earth, very likely the crash had killed the pilot and co-pilot. The way she had evidently rolled and cartwheeled must have killed several if not all passengers aboard.  
  
Akima ducked behind a fallen tree when she saw one of those creatures that had terrorized the Valkyrie. It ran forward, its antennae twitching, towards the wreck and as it approached within five hundred meters a blaster bolt suddenly shot out towards the Heartless shadow and it flipped end over end as it was hit. Somebody was alive in that wreckage.  
  
She watched as the muzzle of a weapon appeared, panning the area and then cautiously the head of its bearer. The craft was a military vessel of some sort, evidently, because as the survivor poked the rest of his body out of the wreckage, she could see jungle patterned camouflage fatigues. The soldier panned the area with his high powered blaster rifle and sensing a presence behind him he turned to find Akima standing at the edge of the clearing.  
  
Both of them stood for a few seconds, weapons aimed at each other. "I'm not going to hurt you." Akima said.  
  
"Strange statement from one who has a blaster leveled towards me." The soldier replied.  
  
"Do you know what those strange little things are?" Akima said, indicating the dead Heartless.  
  
"No, evidently you weren't responsible for this wreck either." The soldier replied, indicating the destroyed shuttle.  
  
"No, they're certainly not my friends." Akima replied.  
  
"It appears, we have a common enemy, Miss..." the soldier began.  
  
"Kunimoto. Just call me Akima. Do you have a name?"  
  
"Parmas, Lance Corporal, Imperial Army."  
  
"First or last name?" Akima asked.  
  
"My surname." Parmas replied.  
  
"Do you go by any other names?" Akima asked.  
  
"I normally go by Halb amongst my team mates, all of whom are dead in this wreckage." Parmas replied.  
  
"Do you know anything about what happened, Halb?" Akima asked.  
  
"All I can say is that the creatures attacked our ship while she was in flight. They killed the flight crew and the ship lost control. All aboard except myself were dead." Halb replied, mechanically.  
  
"Is there a base around here, you know, where more of you guys are?" Akima asked.  
  
"Five kilometers in that direction, there is our base." Halb replied, "Perhaps they have sent a rescue unit this way. It may be best to wait in the clearing."  
  
"Halb, that might not be a smart idea." Akima replied, indicating several more Heartless that came their way.  
  
Halb turned and blasted the nearest ones with surgical shots that sent a Shadow Heartless rolling every time he pressed the trigger. Akima added her own fire, but two people were not enough to hold back a large number of Heartless.  
  
"Which way to the base?" Akima asked.  
  
"Five kilometers, westward." Halb replied, dropping to one knee and firing as Akima ran past him. He stood up and ran to follow her, turning and firing the occasional shot to deter their pursuers.  
  
Halb knew that at the base the garrison commander would likely have already organized the troops to put up resistance against these creatures. The AT-ST walkers would have set a perimeter and very likely the defensive measures around the base would have been activated. Whatever these creatures were, they weren't about to overrun an Imperial outpost garrisoned by at least two hundred and fifty veteran soldiers. They may have surprised the crew of the shuttle, but they were no match for the Imperial garrison.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Halb felt a mixture of dread and anger when they came upon the wreckage of one of the AT-ST walkers. The Imperial two-legged battle strider lay humbled on the ground. The legs of the machine were sprawled out, and the pilot's face was smashed against the view port. The gunner was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Back! Back you demons!" a shout sounded.  
  
Halb turned to see the Imperial gunner half-limping and half crawling away from several of the Heartless that were chasing him. He fired his blaster awkwardly, killing two of them, but a third leapt over his wild shots and stuck one of its clawed hands in the gunner's chest. As it withdrew the hand, the gunner's body began to transform into one of the Heartless.  
  
Halb blasted both of them with shots to the head from 150 meters away. The sprawled wreck of the AT-ST walker did not bode well. There was no blaster fire from the compound and a column of smoke stood out into the sky in company with several more.  
  
"Is this your base?" Akima asked.  
  
"Yes." Halb replied, as they moved swiftly through what should have been a free fire zone. Anything living that stepped through it should have been killed. And there were the bodies of several Heartless that had been killed trying to cross past the perimeter the AT-ST walkers created.  
  
If an entire outpost was wiped out in the hours it took him to get to it, then the Empire he served was in serious trouble. 'Time to consider options.' Halb thought, unlike most Imperial soldiers, the SOG personnel were trained to think for themselves, hence the reason they were branded as rogues by the rest of the Imperial military.  
  
As they wandered through the compound evidence of a battle to the death was evident. Carbon scoring from blaster shots covered every metal surface and impact craters from grenades were in evidence. An E-Web portable blaster cannon crew lay dead at their post, the Heartless had overrun the perimeter, killing the Imperials within.  
  
A Lambda class shuttle, curiously untouched, lay on the landing pad. "Can you fly that ship?" Halb asked Akima.  
  
"I'm an expert pilot, dead-eye." Akima remarked, "Cover me, I'm going to see if I can fly her."  
  
"Right." Halb said as they ran across the landing pad. As Akima got inside the Lamda shuttle's cockpit, Halb dropped to one knee at the open cargo ramp, using the landing legs as cover. So far he could see several Shadow Heartless converging on their position.  
  
Halb opened fire and shouted, "Akima, can you fly her?"  
  
"I'm still figuring out the controls, can you buy me five more minutes?" Akima replied.  
  
"I'll see what I can do!" Halb replied, firing two more shots that dropped a couple more charging Shadow Heartless.  
  
A dead Storm Trooper left his blaster carbine at the base of one of the landing struts and Halb picked it up, firing more shots at the Heartless that seemed to advance as one against the two humans that were currently trying to escape.  
  
"I've got it! Halb, get inside! Fast!" Akima shouted.  
  
As Akima lifted the shuttle, shakily, off the landing pad a dark looming shape appeared in front of her. The creature was larger than an AT-AT walker and its eyes glowed with a yellow fire. It's long clawed hands reached for the shuttle and Akima recovered quickly enough to dodge the swatting hand.  
  
"What the? Halb, are there any weapon systems aboard this piece of junk!" Akima asked.  
  
Halb ran to one of the gun wells and turned the double laser cannons towards the Darkside Heartless. He started to open fire and the creature reacted with a loud roar as though wasps had stung it. It suddenly vanished as Akima turned the craft in a 180 degree turn.  
  
"That was fast." Akima remarked.  
  
Suddenly Darkside appeared again. "He just doesn't give up, does he!" Akima replied, her hands moving quickly across the controls, trying to diver power from the shields to the engines.  
  
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Akima asked.  
  
"I believe this is her top speed." Halb replied.  
  
Before either of them could say anything, Darkside's hand grabbed the shuttle and stuffed the craft down its maw. The darkness was the last thing Halb saw before he blacked out.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Next: Welcome to Traverse Town...Don't worry, our heroes haven't died. Korso, Preed and Stith are due to make appearances in the next chapter as well. 


End file.
